I have experienced two earthquakes here in Central Ohio. Neither very strong, but a reminder that this can happen elsewhere from the Pacific Rim area. And no, it didn't make me want to boast about it - I sure wish we couldn't have quakes here, we already got tornadoes.

_________________________What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (1929- )

ah, good point, sjm. I hadn't thought about it in quite that way. though I spent many a summer night in the basement, waiting for the tornado warnngs to end, my experiences were always relatively uneventful. watching thunderstorms roll in on a 30-40 minute schedule, able to see them several miles off, then getting drenched for about five minutes... the bluest skies that followed... pure enjoyment of the physical world realm...I have also experienced a couple of small temblors, again, no damage, just some crazy shaking and a sonic rumble that permeated my soul...

Amen. I've grown up with quakes, and I still hate them. The town I grew up in, Rotorua, has dozens of small tremors each year, the city my father grew up in, Quetta, was devastated by a quake in 1935, and the town I now live in, Hastings, was badly damaged by one in 1931, so I have a long family history of being on shaky ground. Your reply proves my point - that those who have not experienced signiifcant quakes are not missing out on anything.

Hi! Enjoying this thread. We call the long, steady rain "well fillers." Whereas the short bursts of heavy rain that run off rather than sinking into the earth are called "frog chokers."Have felt only minor tremors as far as earthquakes go - here in New Hampshire - and am in no hurry to feel a "real" quake. What concerns me about the New England "faults" is that one runs right under the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant -just about four miles away as the crow flies across the salt water marsh!

A belated welcome to you, Griselda. Mmmm, the very thought of Kent makes me smile a secret smile...Something tells me that I would not enjoy a pea-souper; certainly not unless I knew the territory VERY well. What makes it smell, do you know? That's cute, the image of a small girl inviting the fog in!

Welcome, Griselda - it's good to see some more support from this side of the pond. jmh, dxb and I have been doing our best to withstand the hordes of USns, with some timely help from dodyskin when required, but we are a bit thin on the ground - and infiltrated by Zildians right in the heart of our country! Hi Capfka!

You're right - I can still smell and taste pea-soupers! Very distinctive! [aside to Jackie] It was a sulphurous sort of smell,as though the seven-fold gates of hell had been unfolded to allow Lucifer and BeŽlzebub to foray forth to harry the earth! Caused by too many coal-burning fires in an area prone to temperature inversions across a damp valley[/aside to J]

RE:a sulphurous sort of smell,as though the seven-fold gates of hell had been unfolded

to those who know, this won't be a surprise, but i actually like the smell of sulfur..(well, mild sulfur odors..)

as a child, our family doctor was very careful with anti-biotics, and generally did not prescribe them, but prescribed sulfur based compounds... they were chalky and grey (later they added a chocolate flavor, but it didn't really cover the sulfur taste up)

my pavlovian response is to associate sulfur with good things (ie, the sore throat feeling better, the fever passing)

That figures, helen.In the days just before I was born, the local doctors used to prescribe that children with Whooping Cough be stood in the Gas Retorts at the Gas Works, just after they had been emptied. The smell of sulphur would have been very intense and the fumes would have made them cough and gasp, to say nothing of their eyes watering. However, it apparently worked as a cure.

If you like the smell of sulphur and sulphur-like odorous gasses, I suggest you shift to Rotorua, New Zealand. The place smells like a fart that just never goes away ...

Some say it's due to a digestion problem that the mayor has had for years, but most people settle for the obvious - the geothermal zones in the area. The one most people go to is Whakarewarewa. I used to think that it was the home of the Weretewhakawi tribe, but sjm has disabused me of the notion.

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